[Editorial Reviews]
"Bertolotti has substantially updated his classic work to include many of the remarkable developments in laser science that have occurred in the three decades since the publication of the first edition, giving us a very readable account of the basic science and research behind one of the most important technologies of our time."
―Peter Milonni, Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico, USA and University of Rochester, New York, USA
"This book uniquely combines the historical development of one of the remarkable discoveries of the twentieth century with the biographies of contributors to this field, as well as scientific underpinnings and devices of modern applications. … Every laser researcher must have it and recommend it to his/her students."
―Svetlana G. Lukishova, The Institute of Optics, University of Rochester, New York, USA
"In the past 55 years, the laser has gone from the invention looking for an application to the expensive piece of equipment whose capabilities and shortcomings dictated research programs, to the commodity that facilitates every area of current technology. No one tells the story of this development better than Mario Bertolotti."
―Carlos Stroud, The Institute of Optics, University of Rochester, New York, USA
"One of the best books on lasers and masers."
―Matthew M. Radmanesh, California State University, Northridge, USA
"A great story, well told. … I will make it a ‘highly recommended’ reference for my future classes in quantum electronics and nonlinear optics."
―From the Foreword by Amnon Yariv, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, USA
"This book blazes a new trail in retracing the history and expounding the theory and experiments as they were discovered."
―From the Foreword to the First Edition by Arthur L. Schawlow, Nobel Laureate
"a highly readable scientific essay on the subject, a historic outline with high information density. The physics under discussion is presented with mathematical rigour and is fully referenced to scientific publications. The end-of-chapter references are comprehensive and carefully chosen, which adds value to the text"
– Contemporary Physics (Dec 2015)